The (C)Old City

Happy new year all! Okay, so we spent most of today in what is called the "Old City" the part of Jerusalem that is within the Turkish 3rd wall I wish I had a way to shop you, but I can't think of anything... Anyway we went to 3 of the 4 quarters of the city (not the Armenian one) And saw - among other things - loopholes, the Dome of the Rock, brains, a creepy catholic church (no offense intended just my impression of it), 2000 year old housing, the western wall, riot shields, a bar mitzpah, and a movie about old Jewish temple sacrifices. We also discussed Jesus at the temple in his last mortal days (Matt 21), as well as sure nails (Isiah 22:[21-]23) - so the story here is that Jews used to pound these sure nails into the temple wall (symbolizing their sins), and also about Jesus's second temptation on top of the temple (Matt 4). Then we drove south to the hills near Bethlehem (we couldn't actually go to the city because of all the political West Bank problems) and talked about the birth of Christ.